ISET Economist Blog

06 June 2014

Eric Livny, Nikoloz Pkhakadze

Georgia Caught Between the Russian Rock and the EU Hard Place

“I’m Georgian, and therefore I am European.” These were the words late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania chose to express Georgia’s EU aspirations when speaking in front of the Council of Europe in 1999. Reading very much like Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream”, Zhvania’s dramatic statement conveyed twin desires: i) to join the European family of nations and ii) to break out of Russia’s traditional sphere of influence, its political, economic, and cultural domination of Georgia since early 19th century.

02 June 2014

Maya Grigolia, Florian Biermann

Pawnshop Mentality

“Jewelry you can pawn whenever you encounter financial difficulties", we were told by a friend. In our circles of acquaintances, there are quite a number of people who enjoy the services of pawnshops. The reasons range from renovating apartments, paying tuition for children, and buying new hi-fi systems for the car, to repaying the 1000 lari that the 18-year-old son had lost in gambling.

30 May 2014

Eric Livny

Farmer Groups: Why We Love Them and When They are Successful

There are many reasons to love the concept of farmer cooperation (and cooperation more generally). To begin with, there is a great aesthetic value in seeing people coming together, sharing resources, and helping each other. After all, instinctive collectivism was the basic condition of human existence from time immemorial. But, there are also powerful economic reasons for farmer cooperation.

26 May 2014

Nino Doghonadze, Norberto Pignatti

Discrimination in Georgia

On May 2, 2014, the Georgian parliament unanimously passed the law on the elimination of any form of discrimination. The stated objective of the law is to ensure that any physical or legal entity equally benefits from all rights defined by Georgian legislation, irrespective of race, skin color, language, sex, citizenship, place of origin, birth or residence, wealth or class status, religion or belief, national, ethnic or social belonging, profession, marital or health status, disabilities, sexual orientation, gender identity, political or other considerations, etc.

23 May 2014

Maka Chitanava, Norberto Pignatti, Karine Torosyan

Georgian Shadow Economy – its Past and its Legacy

The existence of a sizeable shadow (or second, informal) economy in the USSR was and is well-known. The Soviet era was characterized by a very rigid formal system with a high level of bureaucratization and inefficient planning. This resulted in many problems, both in terms of production and consumption. Soviet consumers experienced constant frustration and dissatisfaction caused by endlessly searching for goods and services they demanded, the need to queue for them without any guarantee of getting what they wanted, and the risk of having instead to accept a lower quality version or even to postpone (sometimes indefinitely) the purchase altogether (Kornai 1992).

19 May 2014

Florian Biermann

Becoming Rich Delayed

During my morning shower, I like to think about Georgia’s economic prospects and how the country should develop.

ISET Economist Blog

A blog about economics in the South Caucasus financed within the institutional grant by the Government of Sweden.